This invention relates generally to microprocessor control and monitoring of circuits and more specifically to a microprocessor controlled lighting system.
In many buildings lighting is controlled from one central location using a lighting control panel which uses a large number of relay circuits to switch off and on a number of lighting fixtures throughout a building. LEDs or other indicators are used on the lighting control panel to indicate whether or not the relay was last switched on or off. However determination of the failure of a relay is an extensively manual process. A person must either check the relay outputs electrically or manually check the lighting in a location to determine whether or not the state of the lighting fixture matches the LED on the lighting control panel. In addition, knowledge of which lights are wired to which relay is required. It would be desirable to monitor the state of lighting in a building in a way that did not require manual verification that the relay is working or knowledge of which lights are wired to which relay.
A lighting control panel is used, for example, to control lighting throughout a building. A method and system for monitoring relay status ON or OFF position from the lighting control panel includes monitoring the status of at least one relay from the lighting control panel. The state of an indicator on the lighting control panel is set to show if the relay commanded position matches the relay monitored position.